FILE - In a Wednesday, Nov. 16, 2016 file photo, Donald Trump Jr., son of President-elect Donald Trump, walks from the elevator at Trump Tower, in New York. Donald Trump Jr. told the Senate Judiciary Committee that he couldn't remember whether he had discussed the Russia investigation with his father, according to transcripts released Wednesday of his interview with the panel.
(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

Takeaways from Trump Jr.'s testimony on Russia probe

Takeaways from Trump Jr.'s testimony on Russia probe

Takeaways from Trump Jr.'s testimony on Russia probe

By ANNE FLAHERTY

May. 16, 2018

https://www.apnews.com/abe46f48b8064ffb90868f75172a1671

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WASHINGTON (AP) — If there's a single big takeaway from the nearly 2,000 pages of transcripts of interviews with Donald Trump Jr. and others by congressional investigators, it's that Trump Jr. never thought twice about meeting with people tied to Russia promising dirt on his father's political opponent.

Trump Jr. repeatedly told the Senate panel that he doesn't recall, including whether the Russian lawyer offered him documents at the Trump Tower meeting or whether he ever discussed the Russia probe with his father.

He also didn't recall several emails and phone calls leading up to the meeting or even that a Russian American lobbyist attended.

Trump Jr. did testify that he never alerted his father ahead of the Trump Tower meeting, even with its promise of Clinton dirt. Why? "Because I wouldn't bring him anything that's unsubstantiated, especially from a guy like Rob, before I knew what it was actually about myself," he told the panel.

But when asked to explain why his father then promised supporters at a campaign rally "very interesting" information on the Clintons in the days to come, Trump Jr. said: "I have no idea."

One key question is whether Manafort or Kushner might have alerted Trump, in the thick of the 2016 campaign, to the potential of receiving incriminating information on Clinton via Russia. Trump Jr. said he has no idea.

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TRUMP JR SEEMED AWFULLY RELAXED

Anyone called to testify before a Senate panel risks legal jeopardy because it's a crime to lie to Congress. But if that possibility fazed Trump Jr., it didn't show in the transcripts.

When asked if he thought it would be a problem to take a meeting described to him as part of a Russian government effort to aid his father, Trump Jr. said no.

"I didn't think that listening to someone with information relevant to the fitness and character of a presidential candidate would be an issue, no," he said.